20 Minute Photoblitz

1. Some trees express enormous soul. Find and photograph that special tree.
2. An interesting shadow.
3. Take a photo in which a mirror is a major element.
4. Take a photo that emphasizes the detail of a human hand.
5. Your most prized possession.
6. Take a photo of a bird today.
7. Take a photo without aiming the viewfinder.

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Time Start: 18:20

Time End: 18:38

Photos Taken: 7

Objectives Complete: 7

1. Some trees express enormous soul. Find and photograph that special tree.

This is a Japanese Maple that my mother bought last year. She keeps the tag on it because we have another type of Japanese Maple growing in our yard that she wants to keep this one separate from.

This tree survived a really cold winter at out house, during which time I thought it has died. It looked like nothing more than a twig sitting in that pot, but came back with a vengeance as soon as the cold weather broke.

The moral is this tree may look tiny and fragile, yet it withstood the harshness of sleet, ice, snow, and even a tornado.

This tree was actually closest to me and was the last shot I took after trying to figure out which tree I should photograph.

2. An interesting shadow.

This is a photo of my own shadow just outside my house.

I decided to start my Photoblitz as soon as golden hour started. Golden hour the term photographers use for the golden rays of sunlight that produce expect images with high contrast and shadows around sunset. You can take excellent shots during golden hour because of the richness of the sunlight.

The sun is behind me in this photograph. It looks almost like a silhouette. You cannot really tell, but I was holding my camera up to my face for this shot.

It’s not my best photo involving a shadow, but given the limited amount of time for this assignment I’m pretty happy with the result.

3. Take a photo in which a mirror is a major element.

This is a picture of myself taking a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror.

This is a simply shot, really. It’s one type that I’ve taken many, many versions of. I’m particularly fond of using store windows and antique mirrors in shops for shots such as these, but the bathroom mirror accomplishes the goal all the same.

Mirrors are a popular method photographers use to take self-portraits. You can get very creative with it, but since my bathroom is tiny I wasn’t really able to do much more than this. This is the biggest mirror in my house, and the shape is small, limiting my creative process. However I do like the halo light effect I got from the overhead light.

4. Take a photo that emphasizes the detail of a human hand.

This is a picture of my own hand with the background blurred to emphasize it as the subject of the shot. I made sure to focus the shot to include as much detail on my hand as possible. If you look close enough you can see many of the creases in my palm as well as the discoloration of my very pale hand and wrist.

Also, my finger was hurt, hence the band-aid. I think it adds to the detail.

5. Your most prized possession.

This. My photography equipment is my most prized possession. Or possessions. However, the shot is not totally complete since I was using one of my cameras to take these photos.

This is a top-down photo of my camera bag. If you look close enough you can seen most of my equipment, including rolls of Kodak Tri-X 35mm film, a bottle of lens cleaner, camera straps, and the charging port for the battery on the digital camera I used to take these photos.

The camera in the bag is a Canon T70 SLR with a shoulder strap attached to it. It was made in 1984 and still works perfectly.

6. Take a photo of a bird today.

This is a photo of one of the hummingbird statues my mother collects. The prompt merely said take a picture of a bird, not that it had to be real or alive.

Not only does this photo show a bird, it also demonstrates good depth of field. The subject is in focus while the background is blurred, thus drawing your eyes to it.

I was at a bit of an awkward angle when I took this shot, so I’m not completely happy with it. Plus my mom owns so many of these things it was hard to focus on one.

7. Take a photo without aiming the viewfinder.

Here is a classic example of a photographer’s self portrait, only I let my camera focus the shot while I aimed it in a mirror. I think the image turned out rather nice.

This photo was taken in the same bathroom mirror as the previous mirror shot. This was done after I stood there trying to figure out what to take a picture of without the viewfinder before deciding to do something resembling a self-portrait with auto-focus.

I’m going to be honest and let everyone reading this know that I did not intend to take this picture with flash. I accidentally tripped it when lining up the shot but found it made for a really nice photo. Bob Ross would call this a “happy accident” and I’m inclined to agree!

I rather like how the camera focused on itself and my hands. In many ways this shot incorporates two other objectives by including a mirror and my hands! It’s probably my favorite shot from this assignment and I think I’ll keep it.

Each of these photos were taken with this camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR. It’s also part of my most prized possessions!